Royals wins AL Pennant but did they really?

*Just a warning … I am going to be biased in this post. Not necessarily because I don’t like the Kansas City Royals – which I do not (and not because of the 2014 WC game but because of their antics and their bush league play) – but because I honestly believe that they won this year’s AL Pennant unfairly, in fact in my opinion I don’t think they won it at all!*

The game started out looking like the Kansas City Royals were taking game six with ease. David Price looked liked his usual postseason self when he allowed the run to Ben Zobrist. It was a solo-shot and the game was still was being played fairly at this point 1-0.

Bottom of the second inning Mike Moustakas was leading off. He hit, what have should have been ruled as fan interference, clearly the fan was reaching over the wall. As lovely as his little interviews were he straight up lied when he showed Erin Andrews of FOX Sports where his glove had been, he showed her it had been right on the top of the wall. Just watch the video. It was an obvious misrepresentation of what REALLY happened.

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How in the WORLD was this still called a home run after the umpires watched the replay – in the stadium and in New York. I thought the “fresh eyes” in New York were supposed to keep errors like this in the game.

Although the Toronto Blue Jays made mistakes in the game, especially going 0-12 with runners in scoring position, this run made the difference in the game. This shows a huge problem with the replay system, but that’s a blog post for another day.

Still, this play is what I like to call a bunch of mother-f**king bullsh*t. Seriously, even if you were rooting for Kansas City there is NO WAY that calling this a home run was correct and if you can’t admit that your team got lucky then you have some serious issues that you may need to get professional help for. The ball would have bounced off the wall and Hosmer likely would have ended up on second, maybe third.

Price, who is 0-7 now in postseason outings, settled down and pitched well enough to win the game (but didn’t) retiring 18 straight batters. Price pitched 6.2 innings allowing five hits, three runs and one walk while striking out eight Royals’ batters. Price could have used a bit more run support.

Jose Bautista. Getty Images.

Royals’ starter Yordano Ventura went just 5.1 innings while allowing five hits, two walks and striking out five. However he did allow just one run, to Price’s three, on a solo shot by Jose Bautista in the fourth.

Joey Bats homered again in the eighth with Ben Revere on first, off of Royals’ reliever Ryan Madson to tie up the game. Closer Wade Davis came in to get the last two outs in the eighth when the game was delayed by rain for almost 45 minutes.

In the bottom of the eighth with 20-year-old closer Roberto Osuna on the mound, Lorenzo Cain walked and Eric Hosmer singled to right where Baustista chased down the ball, threw it in to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki who threw home but not in time to get Cain who scored what would end up being the winning run.

Wade Davis. Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

With Davis on the mound in the ninth the Blue Jays didn’t have much of a chance, although he got a few lucky calls and a generous strike zone. Davis allowed a lead-off single to Russell Martin and walked Kevin Pillar. The Blue Jays had an opportunity here with two on and nobody out but their luck with runners in scoring position remained the same.

Davis went on to strike out Dioner Navarro and Ben Revere. Finally, it was up to American League MVP candidate Josh Donaldson to save the Blue Jays season but he grounded out to Moustakas at third who threw to first for the out and the Royals won the AL Pennant.

From the moment Moustakas’ “home run” happened I said it would be a shame if the Royals won by just a single run and they did. It pretty much ruined the game for me. Yes, Toronto had their chances and blew them, however the score should never have been tied when Cain scored in the eighth inning.

Overall, the call in the second inning on the supposed home run changed the game. Toronto still might have lost but they would have at least had more of a chance. As far as the World Series goes ….

7 thoughts on “Royals wins AL Pennant but did they really?”

Sorry Tom, I am usually an American League girl but I am so intrigued with the Mets pitching staff as well as the fact that Bartolo is on the team … I absolutely adore that man since he played on the A’s and I got to know more about him as opposed to him being an ex-Angel and other teams that were/are foes of the A’s …. but that happy fat man makes me happy!! I #TeamBartolo!!! As far as Cespedes goes I’m not a really a fan. He has always seemed to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Of course I was happy when he helped the A’s but when he was traded – I did and still believe that it was the correct decision by Beane. We couldn’t afford 5 or 6 years for over $100 million … the trade for Lester didn’t hurt us, there were a ton of other factors that caused our season to collapse and I am positive it wasn’t the trade of Cespedes. Anyways, that’s my reasoning for saying “Let’s Go Mets” – 1. their pitching staff reminds me of the early 2000’s A’s pitching staffs except that the Mets pitchers are better and 2. #TEAM BARTOLO! LOL! I hope that helps make a little sense of my reasoning for rooting for the Mets in the World Series! I hope you don’t hate me now though! ???? 🙁

From the overhead camera, it was clear that ball was on top of the wall and would have continued out. His glove may have gone in front of the wall eventually. They just like to post photos that make it look as controversial as possible to get people to read stupid articles. Anyway, if it had been a double, he still might have scored. It’s not like it was an out. And, it was Moustakas not Hosmer.

My bad, it was Moustakas. Where I got Hosmer I don’t know. I was in a huge hurry – I watched the whole game so I should have known. I bet my Twitter account reflects a better understanding of the moment! I will make that correction! Thanks you and thanks for commenting. I’m still not convinced it was a home run but I also don’t see all the angles out here on the West Coast so i may be wrong…I don’t know. I appreciate your comment and am grateful so that I can make the correction! Thanks!

Nice photo at the top, showing what in Kansas City is viewed as an unforgettable and glorious end to 29 years of frustration.
Don’t know why you are focusing on the Moustakas home run. There was one view that pretty clearly showed it would have hit the top of the fence, which I think means it is “over” the fence and a home run. The Jays had a bigger gripe on the strike two call to Revere. It probably was several inches outside, according to the strike zone map, although on video replay it looked like it caught the plate before moving outside. If it was a ball, then it was a matter of the home crowd and nice framing influencing the umpire. It was crucial because at 2 and 2, Davis had Revere at his mercy on a chase pitch slider.
The umpire in Game Five in Toronto blew a big ball four call to Bautista. So it evened out. But I think we should use technology for an automated strike zone. Umpires apparently miss 10% of all calls and it really affects particular at bats.
With the bias of being a Royals, I thought it was a good series. I guess the Royals do not have any former A’s?
One side note is that Donaldson must hate Kauffman Stadium with respect to how his last two seasons ended. Last year, he moved left to protect Gombs’ arm and saw Perez’s soft grounder edge past him on his right. This year, he is up with the chance to win the game and rolls out to third base as the third baseman played where Donaldson did and moved to his left. Donaldson hit the ball softer than Perez.
Come on. You’re an American Leaguer. Get on Royals bandwagon..

i never saw ANY replay that showed the Hosmer homer being an actual home run. But what really gets me is that I am not rooting for teams with ex-A’s! Zobrist? Like I care! He was on the team for five minutes. I jumped on the Royals bandwagon last year because I absolutely despise the SF Giants more than any team in any sport EVER and I have since I was four years old (4 years before we swept them in the WS) – but I couldn’t this year after the big chip they had on their shoulder all year, fighting with other teams – including the A’s when clearly Lawrie’s slide was clean …at least compared to the bullshit Utley obviously pulled which was on purpose!!). As far as rooting for the Jays, it had nothing to do with Donaldson (who did choke, I admit that). That trade will be a win for the A’s but that is my opinion and in reality will be impossible to determine until the players traded actually mature and are ready for the big leagues. You could argue that Kendall Graveman was in the bigs this year and that would be true – he wasn’t perfect and had some crappy outings but he showed signs of brilliance on more than one occasion and Barreto is tearing it up in High Class-A at 19! As for the strike zone, I did mention that the one that Davis was given was certainly generous. I would have had more of a problem with it – actually I should have written more about it however I was on a time limit of sorts – had to leave for a friend’s memorial service (not asking for sympathy just a true story). Honestly, I’m not bitter re the WC game last season because even if the A’s played the Angels in that ALDS and IF (which despite Josh Hamilton going 0-13 or 15?) they had won which I completely doubt – they A’s were screwed in the beginning of July. Long before they traded Cespedes or whatever people want to blame their complete collapse on – I think trading Cespedes only made a difference because of Moss’ injured hip – which he kept a relative secret until just before the playoffs when he got a cortisone shot and hit 2 homers in the wild card game – but the problem is that once teams realized that Moss was slumping (we just didn’t know why at the time) and Cespedes was gone – it left JD completely unprotected in the lineup – I would love to go look at his 2nd half walk numbers …. but I am completely digressing. I apologize, what I was really trying to say is that winning the WC game last year would have just led to more heartache. I was find with losing it. Anyways, also, I have been to Kauffman Stadium – although it was empty back in 06 – LOL! – and I LOVED IT!! KC is a great place and I saw my first real double header there!! We were yelling “Mar-co Scu-taro!” from the outfield and he turned around and waved to us … it was good times for sure. I met some great people too! Ok, back on topic – I was rooting for the Blue Jay mainly because Joe Carter’s home run in 1993 is one of the most memorable baseball moments of my childhood. And yes, I’m an American League girl at heart and you could say that I am rooting for the Mets because they have former A’s but I’m not really a Cespedes fan, however I am a HUGE Bartolo Colon fan (#TeamBartolo!!!!) and he’s the main reason I’m rooting for the Mets … I call him my happy fat man … because honestly, that is exactly what he is! And he’s played for many of my team’s foes over the years bu I just love that guy … which is my main Mets motivation. I also love their young pitching staff … it’s reminiscent of the early 2000 A’s except better! So anyways, I appreciate you comment, I hope I didn’t ramble on too much and made a bit of sense! LOL!

Interesting on Donaldson trade. I had not heard anyone defend it and never understood why it was made. It still seems like a mistake giving up the MVP under several years of control for prospects. But you are correct you cannot render a final verdict on a trade until all the results are in and bad trades analytically at the time sometimes produce results that make them a good trade.
The Myers/Odorizzi/others trade for Shields/Davis/Johnson trade now falls in that category. It was dumb at the time for the Royals, but they are now in the WS two years in a row based in significant part on the trade. They wanted Davis because they thought he would be a good starter, where he was a bust, but now he is the best reliever in baseball and he took them to the World Series on Friday.
You probably heard this, but Donaldson has been regretting the WC game for a year because he moved left to try to protect Gombs weak arm in left field. Now, he has a new Kauffman Stadium regret. But I don’t think he choked. Davis said his “plan” was to throw low outside fastballs and try to get Donaldson to roll over and hit a ground ball. God agreed and it happened. Donaldson seemed to be reaching on a 95 MPH fastball. Great times in KC (finally).